Abani Sen was one of the pioneers of modern Indian art. He was a fiercely independent nationalist painter who rejected both the imitative classical drawings from the 19th century plaster casts of European models, and the delicate paintings ‘high and mighty’ intellectuals in the Mughal manner. For Sen, aesthetic issues in painting, like ‘stylisation’, evolved naturally from life and living, from experiencing and observing, rather than from an abstract principle. Sen once said, “In my paintings, I try to transform myself to the things which I paint ...I try to surrender to the object, whatever they may be... and in this attempt, I feel the impulse of an eternal joy.” He did not adhere to any particular school of painting. His art is universal and appeals to all classes of people. “Pencil and crayon, watercolour and crayon — Abani Sen is a master of several media,” wrote art critic Krishna Chaitanya in Roop Lekha (November 2, 1950).